Its the “Selfie” election

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Well it will surprise no one at all that the election has finally been called for September 7 as Kevin himself announced to me in my in box:

Ah now we can get down to some real scrutiny and blow by blow game commentary, because no matter how dour and serious players (or supporters)on either team are now that the election is out of the faux campaign and unto the Pukka election process we can have a bit of fun with it and still have respect for the process.

Although Rudd has been leading us on a merry dance for the last month I don’t expect anything truly new or innovative during the campaign except for many silly “selfies” posted on twitter and an attempt to use the social media as a campaigning tool.

Finally lets not forget that all Rudd has to do to “win” at a personal level is to not loose in a landslide anything more than that will make him a saviour of the party and we all know that is the prize he is really fighting for, and even an Abbott government won’t deny him that.

His sort of plea for new politics and no negativity, no personal attacks and what did he do, in announcing the new election date, which we think maybe the 7th September, but as we all know that’s subject to change as we’ve seen from Labor PM’s, a whole speech that consisted of personal attacks on Tony Abbott.

Then there was the deal breaker, the plea for donations for the Labor Party Campaign, can you believe it, how un-dignified was that. Here we have the PM of a country doing what should have been an official announcement, not a Party Political thing let alkone a call for people to donate to his party’s campaign funds.

Rudd claims the ALP have less money than the Coalition. It is a laughable claim. The ALP lives and dies by poker machine revenue from its Labor Clubs; donations from Big Labor organisations; and local ChiCom interests. The ALP has far more money than the Coalition: it is a F – A – C – T.

But then again we’ve heard from the Public services Union who have now taken a step back from campaigning for Labor after Bowen’s budget adjustments and word of them raiding the ranks of the public service, so maybe other unions are having second thoughts.

Then there was the lie of Saturday when Rudd said to the media he hasn’t got an election date settled, there’s a lot to do before that, YET, last night the TV was saturated already with Kevies election adds. Now I worked in television and can tell you straight, you just can’t phone up half an hour before and book a swag of prime time advertising, it’s just not possible. The advertising has been booked well in advance.

Iain, the tone of these election posts (and the comments from the supporters like Tony, GD & James) is just far too simplistic, unanalytical and cheer-squad style to bother with. Seriously mate, there’s no point entering debate if this blog is going to treat this most important election as though they’re members of the Collingwood cheer squad hurling abuse at their opponents while barracking furiously for their side. It’s pointless being here.

Is that a Labor style simplistic response when it gets a little warm in the kitchen? I’m rather surprised that you would pick on Collingwood, why not pick on Essendon, they are the flavour of the month at the moment.

There’s obviously as you have noticed been a lot of Labor support in this thread, so there really hasn’t been a lot to debate, so why don’t you throw in some relevant material so we can get our teeth stuck into it.

Now that the electoral tide has turned James, you will see the labor devotees, begin to shrink away from their arrogant positions, and go into hiding, or go on the attack, attempting to intimidate the average Joe voter.
Remember this folks, from only a couple of weeks ago ?

Iain, the tone of these election posts (and the comments from the supporters like Tony, GD & James) is just far too simplistic, unanalytical and cheer-squad style to bother with. Seriously mate, there’s no point entering debate if this blog is going to treat this most important election as though they’re members of the Collingwood cheer squad hurling abuse at their opponents while barracking furiously for their side. It’s pointless being here.

The fact is we can’t have debates about particular issues unless those of a contrary opinion are prepared to make the arguments. You want to see it as a game then try commenting as if its a game rather than just deriding those of us here who clearly think that Rudd and Labor are duds unworthy of re-election.

Now you have repeatedly declined to argue for Labor or its policies and that’s fine but you can’t possibly expect me to write positive things about Rudd and his crew when I don’t see anything positive in his resurrection and the prospect of another term in Labor if I don’t believe in it.

I’m not expecting you to write positive things about Rudd, Iain, but I can’t and won’t enter a debate that is full of rhetoric, derision and cheerleading. And, meaning no disrespect, that has been the tone of the posts and comments here of late. There’s no rational debate to be had with a footy cheer squad that only argues by putting down the opposition and over-exalting its own side without even a hint of addressing the real issues in fair manner.

Iain ?
Those of us, that have no real leanings, one side or the other, are also tired of hearing the rhetoric, from a government putting this great country, into debt to the tune of arguably one billion dollars A DAY ! without any guilt, any explanations, blaming it on overseas crashes, that will have, and have had no real effect here in good ol oz.

They have been asked to explain their extravagencies, their incompetences, and their frivolity, and all they have come back with is inuendos, false promises from their new messiah, and very little else, other than debt, and more debt, saying that debt is good, debt is normal. Look aren’t we clever, we have kept an economy out of a recession and a money crisis which in reality, never affected us in the first place ?

The failure of those, unwilling to debate the facts, without rhetoric or favour, are those that have no facts to back up a thin vain argument, with no base in reality. The only interesting factor to come out of this upcoming campaign, is just exactly the milky bar kid, and his cronies defend his party’s failures, and the massive mess left behind, that is our defecit, industrial and mining meltdowns. Going to have to be some pretty brilliant spin doctoring if you ask me ?

Ray, upon Rudd’s re-installment as PM, you reckoned he would be forthcoming with ‘policies’. Indeed he was. These so-called policies included his new asylum seeker solution in PNG. As that is now failing, he has approached Nauru, however they have given him the cold shoulder. Wasn’t it you who said that Nauru was a hell-hole for refugees?

Rudd has also stated that he was getting rid of the carbon tax. Wasn’t that a Labor policy in the first place? Then again, he’s only getting rid of the carbon tax for the election. After that he’ll start the equally useless, equally costly ETS. That’s the policy that gives money to Nigeria so we can burn our own coal.

He’s doing great on policy so far.

And then there’s the D word. The Deficit. The largest deficit in the history of the nation.

You reckon it’s not too bad. Most financial analysts disagree with you. You blame it all on the GFC*. Most financial analysts disagree with you.

At the time of the GFC, Australia had a record surplus, money in the bank, and Labor was able to splash that cash around. Of course it helped, but Labor didn’t stop there. They kept splashing the cash long after the cash had run out.

Worse still, they then appropriated billions to the global warming green scam.

Is it any wonder why a majority of the population don’t take them seriously anymore?

Since then Labor’s debt has grown and grown. Since KRudd’s re-installment he has spent another $700 million. $700 million that we don’t have.

At what point does Labor say enough is enough and pull in the reins on borrowing. We’re six years in the crapper so far, how much further do you reckon we can go before the sh*t hits the fan?

On past record it’s highly unlikely that Labor can ever repay this debt, let alone turn it around.

Can Australia risk another three years of Labor’s massive borrowings, failed policies, ie the PNG solution, and further blow-outs on useless green schemes?

Ray, whether or not you like the ‘tone’ of my comments, there are enough points to answer. That’s if you have any answers.

*Our strong banking sector and the Asian boom were primarily the reasons for Australia emerging unscathed from the GFC, not the $900 cheques mailed out to pensioners and dead relatives in Greece. The only small businesses that received any stimulus were the artificially created green businesses, most of which have since gone to the wall.

whether or not you like the ‘tone’ of my comments, there are enough points to answer.

That comment, GD, is in a better “tone” than your previous, ongoing, repeated, monotonous, boring, one-sided, derisive, cheerleading-from-the-sidelines comments you’ve been making ever since Rudd was reinstated. I’m happy to answer you:

Your views on asylum seekers are a matter of opinion. I don’t see much difference between the premise of both parties’ respective positions on those who arrive by boat anymore except that Rudd actually has a tangible plan and Abbott doesn’t. That said, I have NEVER seen this issue as serious enough to warrant throwing out a government. It’s a problem that should not be politicised and let’s face it, your man Abbott has done everything in his power to avoid helping to solve the issue by blowing it out of proportion and making it so political. He’s inflamed the issue and now, when Rudd finally says, “okay, I agree to ‘stop the boats’ too”, Abbott doesn’t even work with him on the newest idea and continues to send the message to asylum seekers and people smugglers in Indonesia that it’s ‘business as usual’ and ‘Kevin Rudd is not serious’. What an idiot. What an arsehole.

I have never agreed with Gillard’s backflip on carbon tax and especially the way she flagged its introduction so far in advance (about 18 months) that allowed it to set the scene for the power companies to hike up prices well in advance of its implementation. The tax itself did not impact greatly on consumers or business but the other price gouging that it allowed to take place certainly did. It was a Gillard mistake. Her whole 3 years was a mistake. But it’s a mistake that Labor under Rudd have now moved to rectify by replacing it with an ETS (just like they replaced their other mistake, Gillard). Abbott says he’ll ditch it completely but then again, he also intends to spend billions on an alternative emissions reduction scheme (how he funds it, no one knows), so I reckon this issue is now about neutral. Scrapping the carbon tax tomorrow will not bring anyone’s electricity bill down – the damage is done and voters will not see this as a major issue in my opinion. Polling also suggests that it’s not a dealbreaking issue anymore.

Given the state of the world’s economy it was (and still is) absolutely essential for Australia to use debt to keep our economy growing, to keep us out of recession, to keep unemployment relatively low, to keep interest rates down to record lows and to maintain our AAA credit rating (one of only 8 countries with that status) in order that we borrow at the lowest possible rates. With cash rates at a record low of 2.5% it’d be crazy and irresponsible for a government not to borrow in order to continue growth while still providing new infrastructure and services. How Abbott plans to return to surplus anytime soon remains a mystery especially after he’s announced he intends to hand $5 billion back to companies with a 1.5% cut to company tax, to ditch the carbon tax and the mining tax. The only way Abbott can even match Labor’s projected bottom-line is to sack massive amounts of public servants, dramatically cut services, pensions and the like – and increase personal taxes. In short, GD, Abbott has no viable alternative to deal with the economy and the only way he can return the budget to surpluis is to send us deep into recession with massive unemployment and no government assistance while, at the same time, looking after the top end and the wealthy. Welcome to Abbott’s new world order – no thanks.

Is it any wonder why a majority of the population don’t take them seriously anymore?

Keep watching those polls, mate. It seems the majority certainly take Rudd a lot more seriously than Abbott.

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